Game Info Update

Auto Assault has released another Game Info Update. This time around, it takes a look at Hestia Back Range, one of the first areas that Humans will encounter in the game.

Originally the area known as the Hestia Back Range was built for use as an outdoor military test facility. Located near Ark I, the Hestia Back Range sits in a rocky wide bowl, buttressed against a series of cliffs and mountains to the west and east, with the highway running down the valley in the middle. After using the area for as a testing ground for terrestrial and orbital weapons, the Frontier Location Command (FLC) moved a series of drone launch platforms into the Range - remote devices that proved to be a boon in training and recruit indoctrination. In fact, FLC routinely uses the Back Range as a basic training area for Hestia Company Candidates, where they can fully evaluate a recruit’s individual disciplines in real battle conditions before moving them on to Upside.

Of interest to new arrivals is Ascent Station, a small cluster of buildings, repair facilities, and merchants located in the northeastern section of the range. Candidates will call this area home as long as they are on the Back Range, and it contains generally everything one will need to survive and even prosper in this area. Of course, Hestia has a number of officials and other employees scattered throughout the area, evaluating Candidates with all sorts of tasks and missions. Directly to the west of Ascent Station is the Drone Range, a crater-filled basin where Hestia still does a lot of weapons testing, notably orbital calibration shots. Human shielding prevents any damage from these tests, but the less-than-bright Scavs typically venture into the area – and never come out.

The FLC and the League of Observation and Access (LOA) frequently have tasks that need quick resolution involving the Scavs. While a small minority of the Scavs provide a useful labor force for Hestia, many live and scavenge outside the shielded areas around Ark I, including the Back Range. They frequent an area called The Pileyard in the western and southwestern area of the range. Hestia discards a lot of their waste material in this wreck of an ancient city, which the Scavs consider a literal gold mine. For entertainment, the Scavs drive around the racetrack south of Ascent Station. Often times these annoying but potentially dangerous Scavs need to be culled and reduced to be taught a lesson, but the cynics believe this to be a temporary solution at best.